Doomsday Mom Part 1

·33 min·2 clips

Investigators found JJ’s body under a tree and Tylee’s body 50 yards away in the pet cemetery.

1. Mystery, Murder, and Mayhem episode 103 centers on Lori Vallow Daybell and the missing-children case tied to Chad Daybell. 2. The host, a full-time student and single mother, opens with a personal update about finals, her son Nick’s sprained wrist, and her upcoming gastric bypass surgery. 3. The episode’s purpose is to explain Lori Vallow’s path from family life to the events that led to Charles Vallow’s death and the disappearance of Tylee and JJ. 4. Lori Vallow was born on June 26, 1973, in San Bernardino, California, to Barry and Janice Lee Cox. 5. She married Nelson Yanes at 19, then married again at 22 and had her son Colby in 1996. 6. After divorcing Joseph Ryan Jr., Lori’s brother Alex Cox attacked Joseph with a taser and threatened to kill him. 7. Joseph Ryan Jr. was later found dead in his apartment after a welfare check, and the host notes that doctors ruled the death a heart attack. 8. Lori married Charles Vallow in 2006, and the host says he helped raise Tylee and adopted his sister’s grandson JJ in 2013. 9. The family moved to Hawaii after adopting JJ, and the host describes the household as happy and stable before the story turns darker. 10. In 2015, Lori discovered Chad Daybell’s books about end-times preparation and became interested in his writing and worldview. 11. Lori met Chad in person at a Preparing a People event associated with the LDS church, and Melanie Gibb attended that event with her. 12. Chad told Lori that they had been married in seven previous lifetimes, and the two began communicating privately afterward. 13. The host describes Chad’s beliefs about “dark” and “light” people, his claim that Lori was an “eternal being,” and Lori’s attraction to those ideas. 14. By 2019, Lori told Charles Vallow that she no longer cared about him or JJ and that she believed she was the reincarnated wife of Joseph Smith. 15. Charles filed for divorce, reported that Lori threatened to kill him, and told police she had taken $35,000 from their joint account and stolen his truck. 16. Charles Vallow was shot in Chandler, Arizona, by Alex Cox, who told police he acted in self-defense after an argument over Lori. 17. Lori moved the children to Rexburg, Idaho, and the host says the move disrupted JJ’s need for routine because of his autism. 18. The episode describes Tylee’s last known sighting at Yellowstone National Park, Chad’s “big raccoon” text to Tammy Daybell, and JJ’s last known video from a neighbor’s doorbell camera. 19. The tone is direct and conversational, with the host speaking in a personal, confiding style and moving through the chronology quickly. 20. Listeners who follow true-crime timelines and Lori Vallow coverage will get the most from this episode, while people wanting a compact outline of the case may skip later trial detail.

As heard by us

A conversational, chronological setup for the Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell case.

The episode follows Chad Daybell's apocalyptic beliefs and Lori Vallow's growing pull toward them, then moves into the 2018 and 2019 turning points that bring the case into sharper view.

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Play this if you want the Lori Vallow story laid out step by step.

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